Positive Psychology

1. Positive psychology is the branch of psychology that uses scientific understanding and effective intervention to aid in the achievement of a satisfactory life, rather than treating mental illness.
2. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions suggests that positive emotions broaden one's awareness and encourage novel, varied, and exploratory thoughts and actions. Over time, this broadened behavioral repertoire builds skills and resources.
3. The positivity effect pertains to the tendency of people, when evaluating the behaviors of a person they like, to attribute the person's disposition as the cause of their positive behaviors and the situations surrounding them as the cause of their negative behaviors.
4. Affective forecasting (also known as hedonic forecasting) is the prediction of one's emotional state in the future. It is a process that influences preferences, decisions, and behavior,
5. Durability bias in affective forecasting is the tendency for people to overestimate the length or the intensity of future feeling states.
6. The hedonic treadmill is the observed tendency of humans to return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events. For example, as a person makes more money, expectations rise in tandem, which results in no permanent gain in happiness.
7. Positive illusions are unrealistically favorable attitudes that people have, a form of self-deception or self-enhancement that feels good, maintains self-esteem or staves off discomfort at least in the short term.
8. Defensive pessimism is a cognitive strategy to prepare for anxiety provoking events or performances. Individuals set low expectations for their performance, regardless of how well they have done in the past.